This account is pending registration confirmation. Please click on the link within the confirmation email previously sent you to complete registration.Need a new registration confirmation email? Click here

Outside the world of the USPS, UPS and
FedEx(FDX), new companies have opened up a niche in getting products out to buyers -- or to other players at various points in the retail/wholesale product lifecycle -- by cobbling together chains of disparate delivery providers to minimize costs for small businesses.

In an easily understood, highly effective bit of marketing, one of these has dubbed itself "the Orbitz of shipping."
BlueGrace Logistics, based in Tampa, Fla., has amassed since 2007 a corps of 3,000 shippers large and small (including the big three) to serve its 2,500 customers. CEO and founder Bobby Harris, whose background is in transportation management, saw an underserved market of smaller players that couldn't seriously compete when it came to economies of scale, technology or knowledge base. Since the shipping industry as a whole has bounced back -- with rates up 15% on an annualized basis and tonnage up 2%, according to Harris -- he sees this area expanding in the future; he has already watched several larger companies quietly acquiring smaller players.

Options like these will become increasingly important in the near term, with shipping costs up notably since the start of the recession, and if the USPS goes ahead with planned changes to service to help cut heavy annual losses. Svec currently counts Priority Mail as reliable and cost-effective (almost always cheaper than UPS or FedEx), and it's the method of choice for the majority of her customers' purchases. But, with the heat-sensitive items she sells, notes Svec, a shift from a maximum of three days in transit to five or more could be a dealbreaker.

In which case, she will once again have to evaluate the true cost of free shipping.

--
Written by Todd Obolsky, special to CNBC

CNBC is a world leader in business news, providing real-time financial market coverage and business information.

Product Features:

To begin commenting right away, you can log in below using your Disqus, Facebook, Twitter, OpenID or Yahoo login credentials. Alternatively, you can post a comment as a "guest" just by entering an email address. Your use of the commenting tool is subject to multiple terms of service/use and privacy policies - see here for more details.